Inspired by Collaboration: Imaginary Animals

Animals enrich us in so many ways … the facial expression of an irritated house cat or the sheer beauty of witnessing a local herd of Bighorn sheep crossing the street at Sun Rivers in Kamloops.  Animals are interesting to learn about and observe. In this sense, animals inspire a creative subject for playful art making. 

Upper: Kaitlyn M face painting, LG artwork: Raccola
Lower: Art by LG student, Kate M & Rhona Armes admire LG student practice face painting 

Throughout the month of June 2015, South Kamloops Students participated in a collaborative art project with Lloyd George Elementary School.  Grade three artists from Mme Roy’s classroom came to the South Kam artroom and created an imaginary animal with a high school student.  Through a dialogue of composition, explanation of line, shape, colour, and an openness to creativity, 24 elementary students designed imaginary animals.  This process of creating imaginary creatures provided an ideal subject to take risks, try new materials, and connect both realistic and imagined imagery. 

Designing Collaborative Images: Easton & LG student

Garden Art Show!  SKSS Students set up the framed elementary student work in our school courtyard.
LG students were invited to SKSS back for a second visit to view the in-progress artwork created
 by their high school buddy's.  We also had some face painting! 

SKSS Student Courtney shares a moment with LG students reading artist statements.

The second stage of our creative thinking involved SKSS art students working with the images created by the grade 3 students to develop a personally meaningful image.  Aspects of material and composition presented a diverse opportunity for students to develop the image, maintaining some of the same qualities while pushing the sophistication of each imagined animal. 

Here are some of the outcomes of the SKSS student work:

Artwork by: Kate, grade 9

Artwork by: Camryn, grade 10

Artwork by: Lauren, grade 9

Our collaborative project comes together with a final presentation of student learning at Riverside Park on September 19^th, 2015.  Students will share our work and process with the community at the Kamloops Children’s Art Festival, an annual event hosted by the Kamloops Art Council. We are very proud to be a part of this celebration of the arts and share our finished work with with Kamloops!

Maison de Lumiere: Kinder clay!

Sculpture & Ceramics students shared their slab building clay techniques this January by working with Mme Upshaw and Mme Linthorne’s Kindergarten class from our neighbouring elementary school, Lloyd George.  Students paired-up to create a ‘Maison de Lumiere’ focusing on aspects of texture and hand-building sculpture techniques.  As collaborative activities often witness, the artistic process becomes an opportunity in our school community to build a brief and meaningful relationship between the teenage artists and their newly acquainted Kindergarten friends.  SKSS art student Katherine R. reflects on her experience working with the Kindergarten students:

Kids are really creative and ready to try new things, which is why working with the kindergarten class was so cool.  It was really interesting to see how much their houses varied in size, colour, and in general how different they were.  They all were very excited and enthused about working with clay, since for many of them it was their first time.  They also got to paint their houses with ceramic glaze.  Many picked their favorite colour and layered it on the entire house!  For someone who loves kids this was such a cool opportunity to talk to them while teaching them something new.  It was privilege to give back to the community in such a unique way.

We would like to thank our Lloyd George Kindergarten friends, teachers Mme Upshaw and Mme Linthorne, and librarian Mme Cauchon, for such fantastic participation and sharing in our creative art-making collaboration.